Town Hall Seattle Science Series

Tuberculosis might seem like a disease of the past in the West, but globally it remains a persistent and costly threat across all age groups. According to the World Health Organization, over 1.5 million people died from TB in 2020 — could it be on track to re-emerge as the next global public health crisis? According to medical science journalist Vidya Krishnan, the disease could be mounting a “frightening comeback.” In her new book, Phantom Plague, Krishnan traced a century of TB’s history from the slums of 19th-century New York to modern Mumbai. She described how superstition and folk remedies made way for scientific understanding of TB, leading to its high rate of control and cure in the West. But, she argued, the cure was never available to Black and Brown nations. As recent as 2020, just eight countries accounted for two-thirds of new TB cases, with India leading the count, followed by China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and South Africa. Through a social history of the dise